November

It's been a roller coaster ride for the last couple of months for our family. My grandmother passed away in October and on November 14th, Worth's grandfather passed away. (Click here to see a sweet post Worth's mom did about Worth's granddad.) We are consumed with grief these days, but have had some uplifting moments that I have gotten WAY behind on blogging about.

2 weekends ago my Aunt Joyce came to visit, meet Mack, and have a Mary Kay party at my house. She is new to the Mary Kay business, and I think she might have made some pretty good sales at the party we had here in Valdosta. Aunt Joyce is my dad's sister. It is always fun to see her and listen to her family stories! I'm so glad she came down from Atlanta see us!

Aunt Joyce and I

Being silly with Mack in his UGA uniform

After the party Emma and Ellie got into the left over make up samples

Aunt Joyce giving E and E pointers on applying their make up

 Mack turned 3 months this past Thursday. We once again tried to get some good pictures of him.  He's just not that cooperative with getting his picture taken! Things he's up to this month: busting out of his swaddle ( I have a woombie ordered!) He's still waking up once a night to be fed. Although, he's had 2 nights in the past 2 weeks that he's slept for 8 hours straight. Hopefully, we're on to something with that?! He's laughing now, which makes my heart flutter!

Photo bombed by Emma

"Not happy about this!"

Mack and his finger toes

Almost a smile for the camera!

Sweet boy! I think he may end up being our only blonde child?

 Last Friday was Ellie and Emma's preschool Thanksgiving Feast. They all marched into the fellowship hall singing for us and then they had a snack with the parents. Worth, thankfully was off of work so he was able to sit at the table with Emma and I sat with Ellie. It's so crazy having 2 kids at the same school, I'm sure it will only be crazier when they get into real school! They both sang their hearts out. Ellie was the loudest singer in her class, and Emma may not have been the loudest, but she knew all the moves to her song:)

Ellie's class getting ready to sing

Ellie refusing to look at me for a picture. Such a diva!

Ok, this was more like a  meal than a snack

Emma eating her snack with Daddy and Mack. Yes, Worth wins Daddy of the year for carrying Mack around like that for the entire Thanksgiving show/feast!

My little pilgrim and indian!

5 year checkup

Ellie's 5 year check up was today. She is growing up so fast! She is 42 in. tall and weighed 34.5 lbs. She's still in 50th percentile for height and 12th percentile for weight. She's a skinny minnie! We've come a long way from that tiny 6lb little girl that wouldn't eat or sleep! She surprises us everyday! 

GA/FLA 2013

Well, we didn't get to go to Jacksonville to see the game this year, but we had a blast at the Bowers' house in Tifton instead. We took a day trip up to Tifton and hung out with the crew there. Kate and Jay were in town with Bo, and Sa and Gramps even came over from Albany. It was an ugly win but it was a win. I'll take it! Go DAWGS!

Sa and Mack

Emma pushing Ellie on Bo's push toy. Notice Ellie on the toy cell phone. She was bossing Emma around at this point

Emma running laps. This is pretty much what she and Ellie did the entire day. Nope, the time change did not affect these girls the next morning!

One sweet moment

Worth was the cook for the day. He fried up gator tail (Seriously! and No, I did not try them! Yuk!) Also on the menu was fried quail and fried turkey

Gramps held Mack off and on the entire day! Mack was as happy as he could be in his arms!

Halloween 2013

I'm extremely proud of myself for all of these posts I've gotten up this week. I really don't know how I've managed to do it.  Mack and Emma have taken good afternoon naps, and I've kept Ellie busy with painting, play dough and coloring projects. Anyway, these are our Halloween pictures. Kate, Bo, Mia and E.W. were able to come celebrate with us. Also, my friend Millie and her husband and 2 boys came to trick or treat in our neighborhood. (They are the Ninja turtle and spiderman in the pictures.) The kids were precious, and I think trick or treating completely wore them all out!

Carving the pumpkin

The girls were proud of Daddy's work. They were mainly interested in planting pumpkin seeds while Daddy worked on the jack-o-lantern!

Minnie Mouse and Princess Jasmine

My pumpkin shaped cheese ball turned out cute and tasty!

Our trick or treat crew. Notice Mack was a football and Bo was the football player

Running to the first house

This broom moved all around and Emma was not a fan. It stopped for a second and you see Emma in this picture darting by it to get away!

More running

Bo in his comfort zone

Emma and Gowan

Ellie and Rich

It got dark and everyone started getting tired - so we headed home

At home, passing out the last bit of candy before calling it a night

Emma's Class Halloween Party

Emma had her class Halloween party last Wednesday. They had to wear all one color, and their teacher made them crayons. Emma had a very cute black Halloween t-shirt that Grandma had given her, so I dressed her in black. She thankfully doesn't fight me too much on clothing like her sister does.  It was amazing to watch her in her class of peers. I am always observing her with Ellie, and she basically does whatever Ellie does at home. At school, however, she was shy and quiet and did EXACTLY what the teacher told her. I thought she might not sing the songs, but she sang with all her heart when it was time to sing (I'll try to post that video later.) Ellie is always completely wild when I visit her classes, showing off everything and everyone in her room, it was just very different with Emma. I know they have different personalities, but it was funny to see how she behaved when separated from Ellie.

At 2 and 1/2, Emma is not yet potty trained. We got a little off track when Mack was born, but we are working on it more now. She is soft spoken (except when she and Ellie are squealing in their laps around our house.) She loves to have pockets on her clothing which she stuffs with all kinds of goodies that I don't find out about until they come out in the washing machine and dryer (Yuck!) She  is obsessed with Minnie Mouse and Elmo. She is still not a huge fan of the t.v.  (like her sister) but I guess that is a good thing! She is my quiet storm, I anticipate what lies ahead for this sweet girl!

Hot Chocolate

This is a super random post, but these pictures were just too funny not to post. Two weekends ago it started to get a little cool outside in Valdosta. When I say cool, I mean 60 degrees which is arctic for us! Anyway, Worth decided to have a tea party with the girls that involved hot chocolate. Ellie and Emma were loving it. I was very impressed at Dad's tea party making skills! Even Mack enjoyed hanging out. (This tea party was also a good distraction for the girls so Worth and I could do a quick playroom clean out - we try to do these periodically to get rid of the junk that accumulates in the playroom!) I promise I'll have all the halloween stuff posted by the end of the week!

Mack - 2 Months

Halloween week was crazy! So, I'm posting every day this week to separate everything out the best way I can. Today's post is Mack at 2 months. He turned 2 months October 21st, but he didn't go to the doctor, and I didn't have stats on him until October 31st. So, at 10 weeks he weighed in at 10lb 1oz (11th percentile), Height was 23.5 in. (60th percentile) and head circumference was 15.25in. (20th percentile). To compare him to the girls: Ellie at 2 months: Wt.= 8lb. 1/2oz., Ht. = 22in. Head circum. = 14.25in. Emma at 2 months: Wt. = 9lb. 13oz. Ht= 21in. Head circum.= 14.5in.

At 2 months Mack is a sweet baby. He is sleeping about 6-7 hours at night, eating, then going right back to sleep until we have to leave to take the girls to school. He does have quite a few minor issues that have completely stressed me out. His baby acne is clearing up, as well as his blocked tear duct in his right eye. However, his cradle cap is still pretty bad. He also has torticollis, which is a tightening of his sternocleidomastoid muscle in his neck on the right side. If you've paid close attention in the pictures, he keeps his head tilted to the right with his chin pointing left. He is seeing the physical therapist that I work with 1x/week and Worth and I are working on him several times a day. We stretch, massage the muscle, do LOTS of tummy time and hold him so gravity pulls his head in the opposite direction. He doesn't like most of it, and it breaks my heart when he cries. I know it probably hurts, but I also know the alternative if we don't get him straight! The girls didn't have any of these issues, so it has been a new experience for me.

He is so precious and sweet though. He has already learned that he has to be patient and share mommy with his big sisters.